A Narrow Line

Journey

jeffrey — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:28:33 +0000

Rough waters this summer. My emotional state is like a fine wine, full of varied and often contradictory notes. Beyond a general sense of drifting, your guess is as good as mine as to how I feel most of the time. I feel like a perspective change is in order, but it’s not presented itself yet.

In response to this inner whirling, it’s important to do what I can to stay grounded. The little activities and routines of daily life provide an anchor to keep me from going hopelessly adrift.

Channels

jeffrey — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:45:55 +0000

Sometimes using words is inadequate. We must communicate the ineffable in other ways, with music or art or poetry, with our whole being.

Sometimes even that’s not enough.

Effort

jeffrey — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:22:38 +0000

Running in the heat is a glorious effort. Sweat pours from my body, my muscles and lungs working to propel me forward on the sidewalk. In the initial moments there is a struggle, a fight against the work, but soon it is resolved, the barrier falls and there is nothing left but running. Nothing but the effort. There is repose there, in the eye of the storm.

Worry

admin — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 14:57:43 +0000

I am in Texas presently, enjoying time with my family. When I land back in Boston, there’s a host of raw newness to deal with. It’s hard not to worry about it at times, even when there’s nothing to be done.

I’ve gotten around, finally, to reading Perdido Street Station, which is as good a novel as I was told it was. The concept of transition is strong in the book, and it resonates with me. That place of transition is a narrow line, if it’s there at all. What would it be like to be fearless of that, to set up shop there permanently? Is it possible or desirable? I don’t know.

I know that I feel the transitions ahead, see them on the horizon. I’m not afraid, nor do I welcome them with joyous open arms. I wait and anticipate, and have my share of worry.

Ocean

jeffrey — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:25:01 +0000

There is something endlessly nourishing about the ocean.

I’ve been to the beach twice this week. On Tuesday I went to Marblehead, and this morning I spent a few hours at Crane Beach in Ipswitch. I didn’t realize how much I needed these trips until I came back. It was medicinal.

In Progress

jeffrey — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 15:24:12 +0000

While I’m waiting for the dust to settle, I’m hard at work writing new music. Now that Ten Directions is finished and out the door, the ideas have been coming quickly and I’ve been doing what I can to record them before they flutter away. I’m very pleased with what’s been happening so far, the sound is very sophisticated and clean.

I will be releasing these and all new electronic tracks as Artemis Seven, reserving Jeffrey Radcliffe for other musical projects. More on that in the future.

Trails

jeffrey — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:14:24 +0000

I am returned from the mountains and am now a licensed massage therapist. It feels strangely inconsequential in the flow of life right now but it’s no small thing.

The release of the school promised time creates a huge rift in life, and in the moments before life reestablishes a new normal, I’m striving to understand where the lay of the land lies. I’m not sure when exactly things got so complicated, but even so it feels good to stand in the whirlpool and feel the trails of possibilities.

Respite

jeffrey — Sat, 03 Jul 2010 10:41:29 +0000

Massage school is over, and I’m waiting for the license process to complete. In many ways it feels like the last 9 months were a dream.

Today, I’m loading up the truck and driving out to the Catskills for my yearly Week In The Mountains. It’s a week of entirely unstructured time featuring lots of music making, silliness and catching up with old friends. It couldn’t come at a better time this year. When I return, hopefully my license will be waiting for me and I can start the transition from study into profession.

Falls

jeffrey — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 10:53:11 +0000

The past few weeks have carried me on their swift current as events rush past. The end of the massage program is less than three weeks away now, and as we begin the wrap up the sound of the oncoming falls are audible. Resumés are polished and applications submitted to licensing boards. I’m finishing up project after project, trying to create that academic alchemy from busywork to useful work. Sometimes the difference is all in the attitude and intention.

This school has been transformative for me, and I’m just now getting a sense of the scope of it all. When the mist clears I’ll be able to take stock and see more clearly where and who I am. And then, whatever’s next.

Swimming

jeffrey — Tue, 11 May 2010 20:47:55 +0000

I’m still glowing a bit from last Thursday’s Jónsi concert. It was an event much larger than the sum of its parts, and felt akin to being dipped in Creativity. It’s a smiling, life-affirming kind of creativity, and I wish I could swim in it forever.